Reading: a tale of three Trumps B1 / B2

Pre-reading
1 Discuss with your partner.
What do you know about Donald Trump? What can you say about the following?
family business background politics

How do you think the pictures below relate to the story of the Trump family's wealth?

All photographs CC BY 2.0. See credits for individual attributions

Reading 3 Decide together if the statements are true or false.

1 Work in groups of three. You are each going to 1. Donald Trump's grandfather wasn't born in America.
read a text about the Trump family.
2. Frederick Trump made money as a gold miner.
Student A - Read text A - Donald Trump's grandfather 3. Fred Trump built luxury flats.
Student B - Read text B - Donald Trump's father 4. Fred Trump didn't like spending money.
Student C - Read text C - Donald Trump 5. Donald Trump got rich without help from his family.
6. Some of Donald Trump's businesses have been
2 When you have finished, discuss the questions. unsuccessful.

1. Say which of the pictures relate to your text and

how they are important. 4 Discuss, giving evidence from your text.
2. Explain the connection of the following with the • How would you compare the three Trumps?
Trump story. • What do they have in common?
• Who contributed the most to the family fortune?
the 1918 flu epidemic Canada Manhattan • Which of these words apply to Frederick, Fred or
the media bankruptcy the New Deal Donald Trump?
shrewd lucky a risk taker

Photocopiable © ELTbase.com 2017. This sheet may be photocopied for use in class.
Reading: a tale of three Trumps - A B1 / B2

Frederick
Donald Trump's grandfather was a Frederick took a huge gamble, sold everything and set
German immigrant who made his out for the goldfields.
money in the Canadian gold rush
It was a dangerous 2,000-kilometer journey, first by ship
of the 1890s.
to Alaska and from there south to Canada across the
Frederick Trump didn't dig for gold. notorious White Pass, where temperatures dropped to
He had a better idea: providing minus forty degrees and horses died in thousands.
food, drink and girls for the miners.
He reached the mining camp in May 1898 and set up
This made him rich - and he was
The Arctic Hotel and Restaurant. It featured a bar that
clever enough to keep his money.
was open 24 hours a day and offered the best food
Back in Germany, Frederick Trump's family owned a and drink, and ‘rooms for ladies’. The hotel was an
small vineyard. But Frederick did not want to spend immediate success and in ten years he was rich.
his life picking grapes. Neither did he want to do
But trouble was on the way. Frederick heard that
military service.
the government was planning to ban gambling and
When he was 16, he left home to make a new life in prostitution. He didn't want to risk losing his money
America. In New York, he worked as a barber for six so he sold his business and left. In ten years, he'd made
years and when he had saved a few hundred dollars, he half a million dollars in present day money. His gold
headed west to seek his fortune. rush gamble had paid off handsomely.
When he reached the boom town of Seattle, he opened He returned briefly to Germany and married a girl from
a restaurant in the red-light district. Two years later his hometown. However, he couldn't stay because he
he had enough money to buy his first piece of land. hadn't done his military service so he took his bride
back to New York and there he started to buy property.
Then news arrived that gold had been discovered in
Canada. It was the start of the Klondike gold rush. But his luck ran out. In May 1918, he caught flu and died
Thirty thousand miners came from all over the world to suddenly. He was one of the first to die in the great flu
dig for gold. epidemic. He was only 49.

Vocabulary
Match a word in bold to each of the definitions.
1. famous for something bad 9. when a government etc. doesn't allow something
2. part of a city where prostitutes work 10. when many people go to a place to look for gold
3. place where grapes are grown for making wine 11. when someone has sex someone for money
4. route over mountains 12. when young people have to spend a time in the
army, navy or air force
5. when something you do is successful and you
benefit
Teach your partner
6. someone who moves permanently to country that
Choose a word or expression from the article that
they were not born in
you think is useful for telling the story and teach it
7. town where the economy is growing fast to your partner.
• explain what the word or phrase means;
8. when a disease affects large number of people at the
• give an example of how it is used in the text.
same time

Photocopiable © ELTbase.com 2017. This sheet may be photocopied for use in class.
Reading: a tale of three Trumps - B B1 / B2

Fred
Fred Trump was a shrewd businessman who built a to provide low-cost housing. These were part of
property empire in New York. President Roosevelt’s New Deal.

His father, Frederick Trump Senior, had made money in He became good at finding loopholes in the law, which
the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s. But he died in the allowed him to avoid paying tax. As the author of a
1918 flu epidemic when Fred was only 12. recent book on the family noted, Fred Trump 'never saw
a tax break he didn't take advantage of'.
In his will he left his savings, a house in the New York
suburb of Queens and some land. But this was not He was also a notorious penny-pincher. He would
enough to support the family and when Fred left school walk around his construction sites and pick up dropped
three years later, he set up in business as a builder. nails to reuse later. But his cost-cutting paid off.
He was able to complete contracts for less than the
It was a good choice of trade. The New York suburbs government paid him and keep the profit.
were expanding - the population of Queens increased
ten times over the next twenty years. Fred was in the Fred Trump's apartments were well-built and attractive.
right place at the right time. With large entrance lobbies and well-made fittings,
they were popular with the lower middle-class residents
He was not yet old enough to build houses or even sign who rented them. It is a sign of their quality that most
his own cheques – his mother had to take care of the are still standing today.
accounts. So to gain experience, he built garages - cars
were starting to become popular. He built his first In the 1970s, Fred handed over the running of the
house seven years later when he was 22. business to his son Donald. He'd inherited the
equivalent of half a million dollars in 1918. When he
The housing boom continued up to and after the died in 1999, he left between 250 and 300 million.
Second World War. In the 1940s and 50s, Fred Trump
learned to take advantage of new government schemes

Vocabulary
Match a word in bold to each of the definitions.
1. famous for something bad 9. time when the economy or a particular industry is
growing fast
2. having good judgement and making good
decisions 10. when a disease affects large number of people at
the same time
3. legal document that says what happens to
someone's property when they die 11. when many people go to a place to look for gold

4. omission or mistake in a law that allows people to 12. when something you do is successful and you
avoid doing some-thing benefit

5. actions taken by US President Roosevelt in the

1930s to improve the economy during the Great Teach your partner
Depression Choose a word or expression from the article that
you think is useful for telling the story and teach it
6. part of a city away from the centre where people to your partner.
live
• explain what the word or phrase means;
7. small building where a car is kept • give an example of how it is used in the text.
8. someone who tries very hard not to spend money

Photocopiable © ELTbase.com 2017. This sheet may be photocopied for use in class.
Reading: a tale of three Trumps - C B1 / B2

Donald
Donald Trump's father made When Trump arrived in town, he took over
millions building government- construction of the most expensive casino ever built -
assisted housing in the suburbs of the enormous Taj Mahal. Its original owners had gone
New York City during the booming bankrupt but Trump took a huge risk and used high-
post-war years. interest junk bonds to finish the project.
But when Donald took over the The Taj Mahal opened in 1990 - Trump called it 'the
family firm at the age of 25, the eighth wonder of the world'. But a year later the casino
good times were over. New York was bankrupt. It could never make enough money to
was in financial crisis and the pay its creditors.
CC BY 2.0 See credits for attribution
bankrupt city government had no
Donald Trump was in trouble but his huge debts saved
more cash to spend on housing.
him. He owed the banks so much that they couldn't let
Trump needed a new way to make money and he saw him fail without losing their investment.
an opportunity in the depressed economy. It was a
During the 1990s, his roller coaster career put him
chance to get downtown property at a discount.
constantly in the media spotlight. He was America's
In partnership with Hyatt, he bought the historic most famous businessman and fame, as he well knew,
Commodore Hotel in Manhattan. The hotel was nearly was a financial asset.
bankrupt, but Trump restored it to its luxury status.
By allowing other companies to use his name, he built
He also used his father's contacts to get a forty-year tax
up a franchising business worth over $250 million.
break worth $161 million.
Today the Trump brand can be seen on products
As New York recovered in the 1980s, Trump's upmarket ranging from perfume to hotels.
developments attracted media attention. With his
Donald Trump is famous for being rich. But many
glamorous wife Ivana, a former model, he was soon a
think he has less money than he claims. Some say he
celebrity.
would be richer if he had invested his father's money
Next, he tried the casino business. Atlantic City was a in an index fund. Perhaps it's no surprise that Trump
run-down seaside resort on the east coast where the refuses to publish his tax details.
government had legalised gambling to stimulate the
economy.

Vocabulary
Match a word in bold to each of the definitions.
1. bond that pays high interest but has very high risk 10. low cost investment fund composed of shares in
companies that make up a stock market index such
2. attractive and exciting as the Dow Jones
3. having no money; unable to pay what you owe 11. part of a city away from the centre where people
4. changing from one extreme to another live

5. encourage something to happen, grow etc. 12. when the economy or a particular industry is
growing fast
6. extremely difficult situation
Teach your partner
7. giving other companies the right to sell products
Choose a word or expression from the article that
under your name
you think is useful for telling the story and teach it
8. in poor condition to your partner.
• explain what the word or phrase means;
9. intended for rich people to buy
• give an example of how it is used in the text.

Photocopiable © ELTbase.com 2017. This sheet may be photocopied for use in class.
Post-reading: vocabulary and speaking B1 / B2

Vocabulary: money and business Speaking: role play

1 Work with your reading group. Explain the 1 You are going to role-play an interview between
words in bold type. Refer to your text if necessary. Donald Trump and a business journalist.
1. In her will, she left a thousand dollars to charity.
2. His hard work paid off and he got top marks. A Business journalist
3. She was a notorious penny pincher and never
You want to show that Donald Trump is rich because
threw anything away.
he inherited his money and that he is not very good at
4. He found a loophole in the law that allowed him business.
to avoid paying tax.
• Think of five or six difficult questions that you will
5. The economy is in crisis and unemployment has ask Trump.
risen to 20 per cent.
• Imagine how he might reply and think what you
6. Thousands of new homes were built during the will say next.
housing boom of the 1990s.
• Remember, your producer will be happy if you put
7. He invested some of his savings in an index Trump in a difficult position as this will make a
fund. more interesting show.
8. Most of the fast-food restaurants here are
franchises.

B Donald Trump

2 Discuss the questions together. You are America's most famous business person and
you want to defend your reputation.
1. Do you think you'll ever make a will? When? You have always said that you made your money
2. What kind of businesses are booming at the through your own effort and good judgement.
moment? • What are the most successful things you have
3. Would you rather invest in an index fund or put done? You need to emphasize these.
your money in the bank? • What are your failures? How will you explain
4. Think of three products that are sold under them?
franchise. • Remember, your reputation is very important: your
5. Do you know anyone who is a penny-pincher? name is your business.
6. Think of something you have done in your life
that has paid off.
7. Think of places in the world where different
kinds of crisis are happening.

Photocopiable © ELTbase.com 2017. This sheet may be photocopied for use in class.